title: Spt6 regulates intragenic and antisense transcription, nucleosome positioning, and histone modifications genome-wide in fission yeast.
abstract: Spt6 is a highly conserved histone chaperone that interacts directly with both RNA polymerase II and histones to regulate gene expression. To gain a comprehensive understanding of the roles of Spt6, we performed genome-wide analyses of transcription, chromatin structure, and histone modifications in a Schizosaccharomyces pombe spt6 mutant. Our results demonstrate dramatic changes to transcription and chromatin structure in the mutant, including elevated antisense transcripts at >70% of all genes and general loss of the +1 nucleosome. Furthermore, Spt6 is required for marks associated with active transcription, including trimethylation of histone H3 on lysine 4, previously observed in humans but not Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and lysine 36. Taken together, our results indicate that Spt6 is critical for the accuracy of transcription and the integrity of chromatin, likely via its direct interactions with RNA polymerase II and histones.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Christine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: DeGennaro
authors.forename: Burak H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Alver
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marguerat
authors.forename: Ekaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stepanova
authors.forename: Christopher P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Jürg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bähler
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Winston
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D016681:Genome, Fungal; D056488:Histone Chaperones / Q000502:physiology*; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism*; D008745:Methylation; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D055503:Protein Multimerization; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational; D012326:RNA Splicing; D016372:RNA, Antisense / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D056488:Histone Chaperones; D006657:Histones; D009707:Nucleosomes; D016372:RNA, Antisense; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; C585902:Spt6 protein, S pombe; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase; C527202:Set2 protein, S pombe